Parenting Harry

One of the defining aspects of Harry's life is the fact that he is an orphan who spent the bulk of his young life up to the age of 11 feeling completely unloved and unwanted. Yet throughout the series, he really is "brought up" by a number of remarkable people who protect and guide him.

Rubeus Hagrid - I just love when he shows up, banging down the door in that sodden shack when Vernon is so desperately trying to hide, providing Harry with as remarkable a first impression as anyone could hope for, drawing him into the world for which he was born with his expansive kindness, which runs counter to everything Harry has experienced so far. It is Hagrid who tells Harry just what he means to the wizarding community, who reveals the true circumstances of his parents' deaths, who gives him the grand tour of Diagon Alley and otherwise puts forth every possible effort to make him feel cared for. Once he gets to Hogwarts, Hagrid's hut is a sort of home away from home, where Harry - and, by extension, Ron and Hermione - always feel warm and welcome. In terms of pure affection for Harry, I don't think even Mrs. Weasley quite matches Hagrid; the bond seems to have been born when he delivered Harry to the Dursleys on that fateful night. I don't think he ever stopped wondering about how Harry was doing in the intervening years, and having seen his pathetic upbringing, he wants to make it up to him as best he can. While Hagrid isn't always the best example for Harry, sometimes encouraging him to break rules and get into potentially dangerous situations because he underestimates the damage some of his favorite creatures could do, he is always there for him, a source of comfort and comraderie; his disappearance for the first half of Order of the Phoenix was ominous and contributed to Harry's considerable malaise that year. Hagrid was the first person Harry could remember ever really loving him. He paved the way for many others, as well as helping Harry to reclaim lost memories of his parents, particularly through the photo album.

Minerva McGonagall - She's technically the first member of the wizarding world who we meet, though Dumbledore speaks before she does. From the start, she expresses concern about this boy, wondering whether he wouldn't be better off with people of his own kind, though soon seeing the wisdom in Dumbledore's decision to place him with the Dursleys. Harry meets her as soon as he arrives at Hogwarts, and as head of his House, she has more interaction with him than most professors, though she tends to keep her distance. There are some wonderful moments of the two of them together, from her whisking him off to become the youngest Seeker in a century to advising him about his career aspirations, but mostly she watches him with an air of professional detachment, her true emotions concerning him and his parents only bubbling up to the surface occasionally. Though Harry seems to find her rather intimidating even into his sixth year, he also respects her and must appreciate how much she has watched over him throughout his time at the school.

Molly Weasley - Harry's chance meeting with her at the train station - overhearing her conversation and taking a chance on politely asking her how to get on the Hogwarts Express - is quite possibly what led to him and Ron sharing a compartment, hatching a profound friendship. Chances are it would have happened anyway, but seeing the family in action gave Harry a good idea from the get-go what sort of people these were. Mrs. Weasley is the very model of a doting mother, with seven lively children and an eccentric husband to look after. She's very affectionate, especially to Harry, but also forceful. Harry is essentially adopted into the Weasley clan from this moment, as evidenced by the Christmas gifts she sends him. She does forego the more thunderous side of her personality in relation to Harry; he never has to fear a reaming out as Ron and the others do. Starting with the second book, she opens her house to him, and the Burrow encapsulates all that Harry has been missing out on. This is a real home, chaotic and messy and so full of love it seems about to burst. It is Molly who is most able to comfort Harry after Sirius's death, simply by letting him cry on her shoulder. She has filled the maternal void in Harry's life as well as anyone could, truly becoming a second mother to him, which will work out quite nicely if he and Ginny get married...

Arthur Weasley - I feel like Harry's bond with Molly is a bit stronger than with Arthur, but he also is a wonderful parental figure, and very much the opposite of Vernon. He's very hard-working, yet he has a sense of youthful enthusiasm undampened by his family's lack of financial resources. He has a passion for his job and his family, and he is an ideal model of a good father. His children - with the exception of Percy, who's been seduced by the less admirable aspects of the Ministry - adore him, and he's set a very positive example in terms of treating others with respect. Harry feels more comfortable going to him with concerns than to Molly, who he doesn't want to worry, and Arthur takes what he has to say seriously and does his best to keep Harry informed so that he will be safe.

Sirius Black - His relationship with Harry got off to a strange start, since after he first heard of him, Harry spent most of the year thinking Sirius had betrayed his parents and wanted to kill him. But once he realized the truth, Sirius became as much a confidante as Hagrid, albeit much harder to confer with since he was a fugitive. Sirius represented for Harry the possibility of a somewhat normal life, a chance to escape his miserable summers with his aunt and uncle, not to mention a close link with his parents, somebody who could tell him all about his mother and especially his father. Sirius was helpful to Harry mostly as a sounding board who could appreciate the frustration he was feeling. Because of his position, he was not able to offer much more substantial assistance than that, and he saw so much of his best friend in Harry that he almost had a tendency to forget that it was not James he was talking to. But it was very comforting to Harry to know he could confide in him.

Remus Lupin - Lupin and Sirius came into Harry's life at the same time, and while he dropped out of sight for a while - and saw Harry only occasionally when he showed up again - Lupin played a major role in Harry's development in his third year, offering calm wisdom and practical advice, as well as his very useful lessons on defensive magic, particularly producing a Patronus. Like Sirius, Lupin was a good friend of James and Lily's, so he has that personal link but has a much less volatile personality - plus a lot less baggage than Sirius, who has a dozen years in Azkaban behind him as well as a guilty conscience for his unintentional role in his friends' deaths. He sympathizes with Harry but also makes an effort to help Harry see the other side of the situation, such as when he defends Snape, noting that although he leaked the fact that he was a werewolf, he always provided him with a properly prepared potion. He's a great steadying force in Harry's life.

Albus Dumbledore - He was like a father - or grandfather, or great-great-grandfather - to all the students, but especially Harry, who he watched over from a distance and did his best to protect. He also conferred with Harry personally on a number of occasions, particularly in the sixth book, but throughout the other volumes as well. The first five books all include a sort of wrap-up conversation between Dumbledore and Harry in which Harry gains insight into the events of the past year and his own history and gets an idea as to how he might proceed in the future. Dumbledore puts himself on the line for Harry, as when he takes responsibility for Dumbledore's Army and when he drinks the poison and freezes Harry, and his unwavering ideals of compassion and mercy have influenced him and undoubtedly will continue to shape Harry's soul. Although his one-on-one time with Dumbledore was limited, he had a powerful impact.

And there are others as well, from Mrs. Figg, who kept an eye on Harry for years, though he didn't realize it, to the Dursleys, who if nothing else gave him a good idea of how parents shouldn't act, and who did manage to protect him even though they never showed him any affection. And then, of course, there are Lily and James, who Harry gets to know years later through the recollections of those who knew them, snippets of his own memory and manifestations such as Priori Incantatem and his Patronus. He owes a lot of who he is to both of them and especially to Lily's sacrifice.

All in all, for a boy who felt all alone in the world for so long, Harry has a lot of people looking out for him...